Student and Educational Resources

Teaching capacity. To be responsive to growing enrollment and as faculty make increasing use of technology in teaching, the University must be responsive to these needs. In addition to hiring additional academic faculty and graduate teaching and research assistants, the University will (1) revise class scheduling to assure that available classrooms are being used optimally, (2) build additional classrooms to accommodate expanded enrollment, (3) develop a plan for assuring that technology in classrooms is updated on a regular basis, and (4) use course-management software that will predict and prepare for course demand.

Colleges. Colleges and academic departments operate with very lean administrative and technical support staffs. Over the course of this planning period we anticipate adding 18 administrative faculty and 70 classified staff positions that will be distributed on a competitive basis.

Student Housing. As of Fall 2014, the University housed approximately 66% of new freshmen and 17% of the total undergraduate population. Comparisons with national peers indicate that we should accommodate 80% of new freshmen students and 25% of the total undergraduate student body, and it is our goal to do so over the next 10 years. After completion of the 2014-15 academic year, Lincoln and Manzanita Halls will no longer be used for student housing. Thus, meeting our housing goals will require aggressive construction of new residence halls by the University as well as exploration of public-private partnerships. Additionally, the University should pursue public-private partnerships that would provide affordable, accessible, and safe housing for young faculty and students with families.

Library. The Knowledge Center and associated center for Teaching and Learning Technology (TLT) provide critical resources for the University. Declining and stagnant operating budgets have not kept pace with the increasing costs of periodical subscriptions. We will work to identify additional operational funds and explore alternative approaches to securing the resources needed to support the scholarly pursuits of students and faculty at a major research university. We anticipate hiring 3 librarians, 4 TLT faculty, and 3.5 classified staff over the course of this planning period.

Undergraduate Education. The rapidly growing undergraduate population requires additional staffing in key support programs. A total of 7.5 positions will be distributed among the Honors Program, the Office of Service Learning and Engagement, the Advising Center, the Writing Center, the Math Center, and the Core Curriculum.

Graduate Education. As noted in this plan, we anticipate adding 252 new graduate teaching assistantships (GTA) and several new grant-supported graduate research assistantships (GRA) over the course of this planning period. The graduate school will be responsible for distribution of the new GTA positions.